A Daughter's Needs
by Suseh
Summary: Do you think I'm going to let you leave now?" His voice was soft, but there was something behind the warning that forced Hermione to cease any thought of struggling free. "You took away the years I could have had with her and now...now you will pay, Hermi
1. Chapter 1

**A Daughter's Needs**

_She didn't want to be here_, the words were like a mantra in her head as she entered into the building and headed directly towards the large counter just in front of her. She had no idea if _he_ was here or not, but it was a gamble she was willing to take for the sake of their daughter.

As she halted before the counter, she glanced down to find a beautiful blond. Her head bent over the desk calendar going over the schedule with someone on the phone (_Draco_, Hermione thought instantly of her estranged husband). She considered clearing her throat and drawing the woman's attention, but held off to wait for her to finish her call. If the woman _was_ talking to her estrange husband, then it would not do Hermione any good at this point to draw attention just yet. She wanted her arrival and the news she carried with her to be quite a bit of a surprise.

"Yes sir," the blond spoke to the caller clearly, "I will see to it that it's arranged. Good day, sir."

The secretary hung up and finally took notice of the woman standing there waiting. She had never seen her before, but there had been something vaguely familiar about her. She could have sworn she had seen the woman before somewhere. Yet, she had been unable to place where exactly.

"May I help you?" she asked, adjusting herself in her seat.

"I'm here to see Mr. Draco Malfoy," Hermione announced. "Is he in his office?"

"Yes, ma'am" came the answer, "but I believe he's preparing for a meeting. Is there something I can help you with?"

So he was here. This was exactly the right time to see him now and Hermione was going to regardless.

"No," Hermione answered heading directly towards the lifts.

The secretary rose to feet intending to stop the woman from heading towards her boss's floor. She didn't know who this woman was or what she thought she was playing at, but she was just not willing to lose her job just for some unknown woman to throw herself at her boss's feet. It was enough she had to see this nearly everyday. To be honest even with herself, she would be doing the same if it was not for the fact she was happily married with two kids.

"Ma'am!" the secretary called out, chasing after her. "You don't have an appointment! I can't let y-"

"I don't need one," Hermione cut her off, "I'm his wife."

The woman screeched to a halt and looked at the brunette with wide eyes. She understood now where she had seen the woman's face before. It had been a portrait up on the tenth floor in one of several of her boss's offices. She had never asked him about the woman, but she knew that there had been something between them once long ago. She had even caught him numerous occasions talking to the portrait.

As the lift doors opened and Hermione stepped in, the secretary made the decision then not to inform her boss of her arrival. It was best to pretend she had never seen Hermione all together. With that resolve planted in her head, the secretary returned to her desk.

On her way up to the tenth floor, Hermione found herself leaning back against the lift's wall. Her mind was already swirling and dancing with 'what ifs' in her head. None of them likely to ever be, she had surmised long ago. Her departure from her estranged husband's world was permanent. Well, as permanent as she had allowed it to be. She would have never sought him out if she had no reason to do so, but their daughter, Rose, in dire need of an operation to save her life. She did not have the financial means to allow the operation to proceed. Rose's father did.

Which now led her towards the confrontation she knew was bound to come between them. Draco was not the sort of man to just hand over the money and be done with her. No, her husband was a ruthless businessman and she knew that he would use every option necessary to bend her to his will. Compromises would be impossible to make with Draco; it was something she had learned while they had been dating during school. No, she would have to find some sort of common ground with him and allow him some sort of asserted control within the situation, but not enough to where she lost any chance of gaining what she wanted all together - her freedom from him.

The door lift bell snapped Hermione out of her thoughts, causing her momentarily to forget where she was at. Shaking her head and clearing her mind, she stepped out and made a beeline towards the large heavy oak doors that lay just ahead of her. As she reached them, she raised her hand upon the brass knob and sucked in a breath. It was now or never and Hermione was willing to go through hell to save Rose.

Even if she had to hand over her soul to Satan himself on the other side of this door.

Hermione twisted the knob and pushed open the door. What she had found on the other side took her breath away. Standing at his desk, Draco seemed immerse on the scattered pieces of paper littering his desk. He had not even taken notice of her.

For her, he had not really changed at all. His platinum hair was still long, pulled away from his face by a single black ribbon. He could easily be mistaken for Lucius Malfoy, Hermione considered slightly, if it had not been that Draco's hair was a bit blonder than his father's.

"Whatever it is, Alexis, it had better be damn go -" The words were lost as he lifted his head and gazed at the one woman he had never thought he would see again. "Hermione."

Draco was shocked to find his wife standing before him. It had been six long years since he had last laid eyes upon her and certainly she was still beautiful as she had been then. Her chocolate-colored hair still bushy and untamable it seemed and her dark eyes seemed to be a shade darker than last.

But something changed in Draco's demeanor as his silver eyes narrowed at the figure of his long - lost wife.

"I see you finally managed to find your way back home," he remarked coldly. "How much?"

Hermione stepped further into the large office and closed the door quietly behind her. She could feel the anger and rage weighing themselves heavily in the room. She was not, however, surprised that he kept a rather calm exterior about himself. There had only been one incident where he had truly lost it and that had been during a time they had been in their fifth year of school. It had been shortly after the incident with the Department of Mysteries. He had been furious with Harry for sending his father into prison and had vowed revenge from there.

"Three hundred thousand galleons," came her answer.

"This must be some expensive surgery," he remarked.

"It's for a little girl."

Draco's platinum brow rose upward. "So it's for a child then. Why not seek out the father for such an expensive surgery?"

Hermione inhaled a breath sharply before answering, "Rose is your daughter."

The words seemed to hit him like a ton of bricks, momentarily causing his thoughts to cease for a moment. But when he finally recovered, he turned his darkened eyes back upon his estranged wife. To say he was enraged was the understatement. He was beyond it and he had every intentions of turning it directly upon the thief of a wife.

"How dare you!" He snarled at her, moving around the desk to stand in front of her. "You bitch!"

Hermione winced and took a step back. She was more than prepared to make a made dash for the door and Apparate from the building; but Draco was a skilled Legilimens and had read her thoughts that he grabbed her by the upper arm, dragging her to him.

"Do you think I'm going to let you leave now?" His voice was soft, but there was something behind the warning that forced Hermione to cease any thought of struggling free. "You took away the years I could have had with her and now...now you will pay, Hermione."

Hermione swallowed hard uncertain of what he had planned. In all the years she had known her husband, she lacked the ability to know how to read him. She was not skilled as he was in Legilimens. He had the tutoring of his godfather, Severus. She envied him then wishing she had been given the chance to learn both Legilimens and Occulemency.

"Please," she whispered softly, feeling the tears threatening to spill down her face, "Please you're hurting me."

Draco let her go and pushed her away. He didn't even want to be in her presence at this moment. In fact, he wished to begone from his life. He had never before imagined Hermione to do something like this to him. She had robbed him of so many years of his own daughter's life and now...now his little girl was in dire need of a lifesaving transplant.

"What's wrong with her?" He demanded, turning his gaze sharply back to Hermione.

"Her heart," she responded, looking away and moving directly to the window just to have some distance between them.

Draco threaded his fingers through the top of his blond hair, causing it to come undone from the ribbon. He was not exactly sure what more to say. He was still furious - no, _enraged_ - at his wife.

The silence between them was unbearable to Hermione. She had no clue how to approach the subject of their daughter's condition any further. He was still angry with her, she could tell by the way he clenched his jaw and refused to meet her eyes. As it was, she felt horrible for never telling him of her pregnancy...of never sharing the first steps in their daughter's life, but she had believed their marriage to be over when she fled Malfoy Manor all those years ago. In all her naivete during the beginning of her marriage, she had always believed that they had had a solid marriage.

Hermione was not a woman willing to share her husband nor was she willing to tolerate infidelity in a marriage. She would not divide her time at all with a husband who spent only half of his time with her and the other half with another.

"I will give you the money, but I want two things in return, Hermione."

Hermione was not exactly sure what to expect from him. Whatever he had in mind for her, it was not going to be good on her part.

"One: I want you back home in my bed where you be -"

Hermione cut him off, "I will not! I am willing to allow you access to **our** daughter, but I am not willing to return to a marriage where my husband divides his time between his wife and his mistress!"

So this was why she had left, he surmised. He had been unable to understand it in the beginning. Nothing ever fitted his conclusions and now...now he had his answer. She believed him to be unfaithful to her, even after being told that Malfoy men (and women) were faithful throughout their marriages.

This only caused Draco's anger to rise.

"Mistress, Hermione?" He snarled at her, moving towards her again. "Bloody hell woman, you should have known by now Malfoys do not cheat on their spouses! Didn't my mother's lessons teach you nothing at all?"

Hermione jumped back away out of his reach before he could grab her. Had she been so stupid to think -

"My decision is final upon the matter; you will return to my side and my bed as _my wife_ as of now," he announced with a finality in his voice. It was enough to warn Hermione that there would be no negotiations further between them. "I will pick up both you and Rose within two hours. Have her ready."

Hermione opened her mouth ready to argue with him that it would not do well to change their daughter's environment so suddenly, but all words were lost when Draco raised his hand to stop her.

Defeated, she nodded her head and turned on heels to walk towards the door.

"Don't try to run either, Hermione, I _will_ find you no matter where you go," he warned.

She shivered at his threat and knew he would chase her down now that he knew of Rose's existence. She opened the door of her husband's office and moved quickly to the lifts. Her mind swirling with the knowledge she was going to have to tell Rose about her father.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: This story was written for an Insanejournal community concerning 100 emotions. I have not worked on the other 99 emotions since inspiration for this couple has waned a bit. I am hoping to later work on the rest. For now, this is the only one out of the set to come.


	2. Read Me

Hello there readers,

When I wrote this story, I was not expecting to add to it. It was for a 100 emotion community over at Insanejournal. It was written for the emotion enraged and I had planned to leave it at that. I did not think – or even believe – this one-shot was interesting enough to be expanded on. I see now I was wrong by the garnered attention it has received.

I will expand further upon this one, but I am going to leave it as a one-shot for now. It will be awhile before I tackle it fully. I entirely blame my waning interest in the fandoms currently for this loss of interest, but don't think it won't be done. :D I have ever intentions of fulfilling the request of expanding for my readers. All I ask is patience.

Thank you,

Suseh


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